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The Four Freedoms
Jul. 18th, 2016 11:13 pmThe Meet this weekend was a rather sedate affair, what with quite a few furs being at the Londonfurs Summer Party, but we still had a reasonable attendance and the weather was perfect. This enabled me to get out my fursuit for the first time in two months and I had a blast, running around and generally just being puppy. I must admit that I have fallen out of love with suiting a little of late, largely because it's such a hassle to take anywhere, but I definitely rediscovered the spark on Saturday as it was great entertaining the crowds. We gatecrashed another wedding and I met a rather charming elderly Chinese couple, with the husband in particular being rather pleased to see me. Aside from this, there were loads of great photo opportunities, with Xantin wanting to practice his photography skills while on the walk.
The social side of the meet was great too and we even had cake filled with chocolate balls which spurted everywhere. I got to chat to a good number of people, including making some new friends, which is quite rare for me these days while we had to forgo the Little Tokyo meal as we needed to stay behind and tidy the meet up. In the end, we went to Meat and Liquor with Tonks before moving on to Head of Steam as he wanted to get some more Kwak. Here, we discovered the delightful Neopolitan Stout on draft while the bouncer recognised us from the Baa Bar days and we had a good chat with him while he was on duty here. During the meet itself, earlier in the day, I asked a good friend how he can square his English patriotism with the EU referendum vote, to which he replied "I don't, in the days after the vote, this felt like a different country to me even though the scenery was the same." I am glad I am not alone in this view. In the meantime, I am unsure how to deal with the handful of Leavers amongst my friends and other acquaintances. The raw feelings are starting to subside but I think it'll be a long time before my anger will be assuaged completely. Perhaps I am taking this far too personally but it does affect me incredibly personally too, particularly when I spelled out what a Leave vote could potentially mean to me, my family and my company. I think I'll just give it time, avoid these people for now and see what happens, in case I say something I regret in a fit of passion. I am sure, eventually, my feelings will subside. It's the same with Leave supporters on Twitter but those can easily be muted if necessary, plus it is fun RTing all related negative news concerning the vote.
Sunday was largely a quiet day around the house, but with the sun breaking through the clouds mid-afternoon, I fancied a trip out somewhere. We decided to go to Hebden Bridge, the lesbian capital of the UK and a pretty little market town deep in the Pennines, on a river in the middle of a valley. It's a very picturesque place, with many stone bridges and cobbled streets, while the Yorkshire stone looked quite wonderous in the sunshine. The other reason to go on a day trip was to try and pick up some more Pokemon - I have become rather engrossed with the game but I am getting a little sick of seeing Pidgeys and Ratattas, which is all there seems to be around Pudsey. In the end, in Hebden Bridge and Halifax, where we ended up on the way home, I picked up another six Pokemon so it was a worthwhile trip. I had only ever been to Hebden Bridge in the dark before, in the depths of winter for comedy shows, so it was great exploring the town. There isn't much to it to be honest, aside from the aforementioned bridges there is an intricate millennium clock and a statue, so in the end we went to a couple of bars serving real ales and craft beer. It was great just sitting in the sun and in the second bar we went to, we engaged the barlady in conversation about Pokemon as the place next door was apparently a gym. She didn't know what this was, so the group of tattooed lads stood next to us at the bar chipped in, and we got chatting. Indeed, playing Pokemon, I have got talking to six or seven sets of people now so it certainly is a social game.
A couple of beers later and we decided to head back home via Halifax, equidistant between Hebden Bridge and Pudsey, and only 20 minutes from home. We had heard of an interesting craft beer bar there called the Victorian Beer Cafe and it didn't disappoint, with a labrynthine interior and a strong range of craft beers and real ales. They had artisinal pork scratchings, including a delightful honey roast mustard flavour, while I also grabbed some tomato and chorizo stew which they were serving on the bar. The barman was very talkative here and it turned out that his brother owns The Irv Inn (now The Manor Inn) in Pudsey, our favourite bar here. We had a couple of drinks here before our Pokemon search, and before we headed back home after a rather good weekend.
The social side of the meet was great too and we even had cake filled with chocolate balls which spurted everywhere. I got to chat to a good number of people, including making some new friends, which is quite rare for me these days while we had to forgo the Little Tokyo meal as we needed to stay behind and tidy the meet up. In the end, we went to Meat and Liquor with Tonks before moving on to Head of Steam as he wanted to get some more Kwak. Here, we discovered the delightful Neopolitan Stout on draft while the bouncer recognised us from the Baa Bar days and we had a good chat with him while he was on duty here. During the meet itself, earlier in the day, I asked a good friend how he can square his English patriotism with the EU referendum vote, to which he replied "I don't, in the days after the vote, this felt like a different country to me even though the scenery was the same." I am glad I am not alone in this view. In the meantime, I am unsure how to deal with the handful of Leavers amongst my friends and other acquaintances. The raw feelings are starting to subside but I think it'll be a long time before my anger will be assuaged completely. Perhaps I am taking this far too personally but it does affect me incredibly personally too, particularly when I spelled out what a Leave vote could potentially mean to me, my family and my company. I think I'll just give it time, avoid these people for now and see what happens, in case I say something I regret in a fit of passion. I am sure, eventually, my feelings will subside. It's the same with Leave supporters on Twitter but those can easily be muted if necessary, plus it is fun RTing all related negative news concerning the vote.
Sunday was largely a quiet day around the house, but with the sun breaking through the clouds mid-afternoon, I fancied a trip out somewhere. We decided to go to Hebden Bridge, the lesbian capital of the UK and a pretty little market town deep in the Pennines, on a river in the middle of a valley. It's a very picturesque place, with many stone bridges and cobbled streets, while the Yorkshire stone looked quite wonderous in the sunshine. The other reason to go on a day trip was to try and pick up some more Pokemon - I have become rather engrossed with the game but I am getting a little sick of seeing Pidgeys and Ratattas, which is all there seems to be around Pudsey. In the end, in Hebden Bridge and Halifax, where we ended up on the way home, I picked up another six Pokemon so it was a worthwhile trip. I had only ever been to Hebden Bridge in the dark before, in the depths of winter for comedy shows, so it was great exploring the town. There isn't much to it to be honest, aside from the aforementioned bridges there is an intricate millennium clock and a statue, so in the end we went to a couple of bars serving real ales and craft beer. It was great just sitting in the sun and in the second bar we went to, we engaged the barlady in conversation about Pokemon as the place next door was apparently a gym. She didn't know what this was, so the group of tattooed lads stood next to us at the bar chipped in, and we got chatting. Indeed, playing Pokemon, I have got talking to six or seven sets of people now so it certainly is a social game.
A couple of beers later and we decided to head back home via Halifax, equidistant between Hebden Bridge and Pudsey, and only 20 minutes from home. We had heard of an interesting craft beer bar there called the Victorian Beer Cafe and it didn't disappoint, with a labrynthine interior and a strong range of craft beers and real ales. They had artisinal pork scratchings, including a delightful honey roast mustard flavour, while I also grabbed some tomato and chorizo stew which they were serving on the bar. The barman was very talkative here and it turned out that his brother owns The Irv Inn (now The Manor Inn) in Pudsey, our favourite bar here. We had a couple of drinks here before our Pokemon search, and before we headed back home after a rather good weekend.
